Category: BEST INSPIRATIONAL FILM – WSXA AMSTERDAM 2026

Original Film Title: The Classified Mind

Director’s Name: Pete Miceli

Writer’s Name: Pete Miceli, Billy Zurisk, Debra Richards

Producer: Billy Zurisk

Country of Origin: United States

Country of Filming: United States

Language: English

Runtime: 7 minutes 59 seconds

Film Description:

A paranoid outsider discovers evidence of an unexplained phenomenon in his neighborhood. As he digs deeper, his grip on reality fractures leading to a revelation that changes everything about the world around him… and the world inside him.

Original Film Title: CIRRUS: A Wooden Boat Story

Director’s Name: Kenneth Murphy, Durier Ryan

Writer’s Name: Kenneth Murphy, Durier Ryan

Producer: Kenneth Murphy, Durier Ryan

Country of Origin: United States

Country of Filming: United States

Language: English

Runtime: 15 minutes 50 seconds

Film Description:

A celebrated, 90-year-old wooden boat sails again. Told through the voices of those who admired, sailed, and later rescued her — and featuring archival 16mm film from her heyday in 1930s coastal Maine — CIRRUS: A Wooden Boat Story reaches across generations to share an intimate tale of maritime craftsmanship and preservation.

Original Film Title: The Contract

Director’s Name: Milan Smith

Writer’s Name: Milan Smith

Producer: Milan Smith, John R. Mistrot, Tanner Palamides, Tommy Ryan

Country of Origin: United States

Country of Filming: United States

Language: English

Runtime: 10 minutes 19 seconds

Film Description:

Davis and Burr stake out a quiet house, their focus slipping as petty arguments and dark humor take over. Inside waits their target—a mysterious, disabled killer known only as The Trash Man—who proves far more dangerous than expected. When their plan unravels in a sudden burst of violence, the hunters quickly become the hunted. What follows is a tense, close-quarters game of survival where nothing goes as planned. By the end, the lines of power shift in ways neither man could have anticipated.

Original Film Title: Twist of Faith

Director’s Name: Anna Pisareva

Writer’s Name: Anna Pisareva

Producer: Anna Pisareva

Country of Origin: Spain

Country of Filming: Spain

Language: English

Runtime: 9 minutes 20 seconds

Film Description:

Twist of Faith is an auteur psychological thriller with mystical elements about a woman who makes a decision that could change her fate. Drawn into a metaphysical space within her own subconscious, she encounters two symbolic forces that embody her inner conflict between revenge, guilt and the hope of redemption

Original Film Title: Know Fear, Know Freedom

Director’s Name: Heather McBride Manley

Writer’s Name: Heather McBride Manley

Producer: Heather McBride Manley

Country of Origin: United States

Country of Filming: United States

Language: English

Runtime: 60 minutes

Film Description:

Know Fear, Know Freedom is a thoughtful and deeply human documentary about the power fear holds over our lives—and the freedom that can emerge when we face it. Blending personal insight, expert perspectives, and lived experience, the film traces fear from its roots in the body and psyche to its impact on relationships, identity, and everyday life. Ultimately, it offers not just an exploration of fear, but a path toward greater understanding, courage, and liberation.

Original Film Title: Unfiltered

Director’s Name: Remco Merbis

Writer’s Name: Remco Merbis

Producer: Remco Merbis

Country of Origin: United Kingdom

Country of Filming: United Kingdom

Language: English

Runtime: 7 minutes 59 seconds

Film Description:

In the quiet of her room, a young woman records fragments of letters to her body. What begins as a series of self-criticisms unravels into a tender exploration of how beauty standards, filters, and comparison shape identity. With her mirror as witness, she confronts the pressure to conform and the exhaustion of always trying to measure up. Until what remains is something raw, unedited, and deeply human.